As a job-matching company, we know the importance of relationship-building and professional networking. That’s why we jumped at the opportunity to participate in the SHRM 2012 Annual Conference & Exposition, hosted by the Society for Human Resource Management. The conference, now in its 64th year, draws more than 13,000 human resource professionals from businesses spanning all industries and sizes. This year, it’s in Atlanta, GA, and runs from June 24 – 26.

As this conference is for HR professionals, we thought it would be interesting to reach into our Candidate Insights and see what HR professionals themselves are looking for when it comes to their own job preferences. You may be surprised by the results.

According to the data, nearly half (42%) of HR professionals prefer to work at the largest companies, those with more than 1,000 employees, while only 12% prefer to work at companies with less than 200 employees. Another notable finding about HR job seekers is that the importance of managing people increases concurrently with their desired annual salary.

Whether this weekend brings you to Atlanta for SHRM 2012 — where you can scale TheLadders’ eye-catching “Hire Mountain” — or you’re simply following the conference on TheLadders Blog or Twitter (#TheLadders, #HireMt), you’ll have the opportunity to see how TheLadders helps companies find the ideal candidate.

If you do plan to attend #SHRM12, visit us at booth 2331. You can climb the mountain to success (and great views!), speak with our executives, and receive some cool giveaways! We at TheLadders are moving mountains, or at least summiting them, to help ensure that our recruiting clients “start closer to the finish," which just happens to be our theme for this year’s show!

Patty Youngclausis the associate manager of public relations at TheLadders. Outside of work, Patty enjoys going to the beach, playing softball and being around family and friends. Once football season begins, her weekends (and sometimes Mondays and Saturdays) are reserved for the New York Giants.